The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization founded in 1982. It is supported by individuals, foundations, corporations, and funding from the Government of Canada and the provinces of Alberta and Quebec. CIFAR facilitates collaborative research across disciplines, connecting researchers from around the world to address complex scientific and societal questions.
CIFAR staff supports more than 400 researchers from 21 countries and more than 140 institutions, with approximately half based in Canada and half abroad. The organization is led by a President and CEO who reports to the Chair and Board of Directors, responsible for funding allocation and approval of research programs. In November 2022, Stephen Toope became President and CEO, with Irfhan Rawji serving as Chair of the Board of Directors and Jacqueline Koerner and Anne McLellan as co-vice chairs.
Operations and Funding
CIFAR receives funding from a blend of governments, partnerships with research organizations and universities, the private sector, and investment income. Its annual budget in 2018 was $30 million. In 2017, the Government of Canada tasked CIFAR with developing and leading the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, a major initiative to advance research and talent in Artificial intelligence. The strategy received $125 million in initial federal funding, and in 2022, CIFAR announced a second phase with up to $208 million in federal support over ten years.
Research Programs
As of 2023, CIFAR supports research in 15 major multidisciplinary areas, including Bio-inspired Solar Energy (established 2014), Brain, Mind & Consciousness (established 2014), Child & Brain Development (established 2003), Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration (established 2019), Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities (established 2019), Future Flourishing (established 2023), Gravity & the Extreme Universe (established 1986), Humanity's Urban Future (established 2023), Humans & the Microbiome (established 2014), Innovation, Equity & the Future of Prosperity (established 2019), Learning in Machines & Brains (established 2004), The Multiscale Human (established 2023), Quantum Information Science (established 2002), and Quantum Materials (established 1987).
Past programs include Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (established 1983, closed 1995), Population Health (established 1983, closed 2003), Evolutionary Biology (established 1986, closed 2007), Economic Growth and Policy (established 1991, closed 2002), Nanoelectronics (established 1999, closed 2013), and Genetic Networks (established 2002, closed 2020), among others.
History
CIFAR was founded in 1982, with the original concept proposed by John Leyerle, a professor of English and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto, who began rallying support in 1978. The center aimed to foster basic, conceptual research across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and life sciences. Fraser Mustard, a medical doctor and researcher in early childhood development, was appointed as founding president in January 1982. The first 25 years of CIFAR's history are documented in the book A Generation of Excellence by Craig Brown.
In 1994, CIFAR fellows published papers, including "Why are some people healthy and others not," which argued that policies driven by population health could address health disparities. They identified 10 determinants of health, listing socio-economic status as the most influential, and the government subsequently adopted the term population health.
Contributions to Deep Learning
In 2004, Geoffrey Hinton began leading CIFAR's Neural Computation & Adaptive Perception program, which included members such as Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun, along with neuroscientists, computer scientists, biologists, electrical engineers, physicists, and psychologists. Their collaborative work confirmed the power of Neural networks and led to computing systems that mimicked human intelligence. Hinton, Bengio, and LeCun are widely acknowledged as pioneers of Deep learning. In 2019, the Association for Computing Machinery awarded them the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that made deep neural networks a critical component of computing.
In April 2012, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network published the first World Happiness Report, co-authored by CIFAR Senior Fellow John F. Helliwell, Lord Richard Layard, and Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
Notable People
CIFAR has been led by several notable presidents: Fraser Mustard (1982-1996), J. Stefan Dupré (1996-2000), Chaviva Hošek (2001-2012), Alan Bernstein (2012-2022), and Stephen Toope (as of 2023). Since its inception, 23 Nobel laureates have been associated with CIFAR, including Geoffrey Hinton, Daniel Kahneman, Art McDonald, and John C. Polanyi.